Shape memory alloys have been used for a variety of applications since the discovery of shape memory transformation by Chang and Reed in 1932. Nitinol, the near-equiatomic alloy of nickel and titanium (optionally containing ternary, quaternary or more elements such as copper, chromium, iron, vanadium, cobalt or niobium) that thus far offers the most useful shape memory and superelastic properties, was discovered by Buehler and his colleagues in 1962.
Nitinol has proven to be adequately biocompatible for a variety of medical device applications, including implantable applications. It has been used for orthodontics, in a variety of orthopedic devices, for filter devices in various body conduits and for stent devices for maintaining patency of various body conduits, particularly those of the vasculature. These stent devices (including stent-grafts, i.e., stents provided with a flexible covering of a vascular graft material such as porous expanded polytetrafluoroethylene) are generally inserted into a body conduit at a site remote from the intended implantation location, and transported to the desired location by a catheter or similar device. They are usually inserted in a collapsed or compacted state to enable their movement through the body conduit to the desired implantation site, at which location they are expanded to the desired size to interferably fit within the conduit and hold the conduit open at that location. While these devices are most often used for cardiac applications, they are also used for the repair of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms and for peripheral and carotid applications.
Many of these stent devices are made from materials intended to be expanded by the application of a force applied internal to the tubular device, usually by the inflation of a catheter balloon on which the device was mounted for insertion into the body conduit. These balloon-expandable devices are most often made from a plastically deformable material such as a stainless steel. Many other stents are made from shape memory materials, particularly nitinol, and take advantage of the shape memory or superelastic properties so that they may be implanted simply by releasing the constrained, compacted device and allowing it to self-expand at the desired implantation site.
Stent devices should be adequately flexible to enable them to be delivered through bends in the sometimes-tortuous pathways of a body conduit. They may also need to be adequately flexible to conform to bends in the body conduit at the implantation site, and to be able to accommodate movement of the body conduit. This is particularly true in the vasculature, where a vessel often changes dimension as a function of systole and diastole. These devices consequently should also have good fatigue resistance.
Shape memory materials can exhibit pseudoelastic (superelastic) behavior, allowing the material to recover a significant amount of strain due to the reversible, isothermal metallurgical phase transformations by changes in the state of stress. The superelastic behavior is characterized by a linear elastic and a nonlinear pseudoelastic stress-strain response allowing the material to recover a significant amount of strain due to the reversible austenitic-martensitic phase transformation. Conventional nitinol materials can typically recover principle strains on the order of up to 8% (see “Nitinol Medical Device Design Considerations” by Philippe P. Poncet, SMST-2000: Proceedings of the International Conference on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies, pp. 441-455). The superelastic behavior of nitinol allows for the design of devices that exert a relatively constant stress over a wide range of strains or shapes. This unique behavior has been utilized in the design of many implantable medical devices such as stents and stent-grafts.
The phase stability of nitinol is a function of both temperature and stress. The phase stability in the unstressed state is characterized by the transformation temperatures Mf, Ms, As, and Af. Martensite is the stable phase at temperatures below Mf, the martensitic finish temperature. Upon heating, the martensitic structure begins a reversible thermoelastic phase transformation to austenite when the temperature reaches As, the austenitic start temperature. The transformation to austenite is completed when the temperature reaches Af, the austenitic finish temperature. Upon cooling the austenite, the material begins to transform to martensite at a temperature equal to Ms, the martensitic start temperature, and completes its transformation to martensite at a temperature equal to Mf, the martensitic finish temperature.
The shape memory effect of nitinol is demonstrated by shaping the material in the relatively high-temperature austenitic phase and setting the shape by an appropriate heat treatment. Upon cooling the material below the martensitic transformation temperature, the material can be deformed to a second shape configuration while in the martensitic state. Upon heating to temperatures above the austenitic transformation temperature the material will return to its original shape configuration. Conventional nitinol materials can typically recover up to 8% strain by this shape memory effect (reference ASM Handbook, Volume 2, Shape Memory Alloys, Darel Hodgson et al., page 899).
The superelastic effect of nitinol is demonstrated by the application of stress to the nitinol material at temperatures above the austenitic transformation temperature, and below Md, the maximum temperature at which stress-induced martensite can be formed. The initial application of stress in this case causes the austenitic structure to deform in the classical Hookean linear elastic manner until a critical stress is achieved. The application of stress beyond this critical stress results in a nonlinear stress-strain response due to the isothermal reversible transformation to martensite. Upon removal of the applied stress, the material can reversibly transform back to austenite, returning to its original shape. As noted previously, conventional nitinol materials can recover approximately 6-8% strain by this superelastic effect.
The alternating in-vivo load conditions (due to changes such as between systole and diastole) often limit the design of medical devices such as stents and stent-grafts due to the fatigue capability of nitinol materials. Improvements in the fatigue performance of nitinol are desirable to provide an increased fatigue life and fatigue life safety factor and to increase design flexibility for implantable medical devices that include nitinol.
Various publications describe the fatigue resistance of devices made from shape memory materials. European Patent Application EP1170393 describes a method for improving fatigue performance of actuators made from materials that have shape memory effect. The process includes introducing significant cold work, applying stress in the expected loading direction, and heating above the recrystallization temperature for short times to create a uniform, fine-grained, microstructure.
According to a published article, “Cyclic Properties of Superelastic Nitinol: Design Implications” (SMST-2000: Proceedings of the International Conference on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies, D. Tolomeo, S. Davidson, and M. Santinoranont, pp. 471-476) strain-controlled fatigue tests were conducted with various pre-strain conditions up to 6% pre-strain. Samples were subjected to strains up to 6%, then unloaded to a specified cyclic displacement. The endurance limits for different pre-strain values remained relatively constant.
A published article titled “Effect of Constraining Temperature on the Postdeployment Parameters of Self-Expanding Nitinol Stents” (SMST-2000: Proceedings of the International Conference on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies, Martynov and Basin, pp. 649-655) describes the evaluation of retaining temperature on the post deployment parameters of 28 mm aortic-size stents having a typical diamond shaped stent cell structure. The article states that “The maximum deformation of any stent element in the fully compressed state (when the stent is packed into a delivery catheter) should not exceed the available reversible deformation limit, which is about 6 to 8%, depending on the material used.”
In another published article, “Fatigue and Fracture Behavior of Nickel-Titanium Shape Memory Alloy Reinforced Aluminum Composites,” authors Porter and Liaw describe an aluminum matrix composite reinforced with discontinuous nitinol particulates by powder metallurgy processing. The reinforced composite material is cold rolled at minus thirty degrees centigrade (−30° C.). Upon re-heating, the nitinol transforms to austenite creating residual internal stresses around each particle to strengthen the material. Improved fatigue life was observed compared to the unreinforced control matrix material.
An article entitled “The Study of Nitinol Bending Fatigue” (W. J. Harrison and Z. C. Lin, SMST-2000, Proceedings of the International Conference on Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies) describes fatigue testing of nitinol samples subjected to alternating strain to simulate the effects of changing strain resulting from systole and diastole, and optionally subjected to an additional constant strain (mean strain) that would be expected to result from the interference between an expanded stent and the vessel into which it has been fitted. The samples tested were cut from nitinol tubing. The samples showed good fatigue life, with the fatigue life being greater for samples exposed to higher mean strain. This result suggests that that the samples had apparently been cut at their small diameter (i.e., the “compacted” diameter appropriate for insertion of such a device into a body conduit) and subsequently expanded to a larger diameter at which they were tested, as opposed to having been cut at the larger, expanded diameter and then compressed slightly to create the mean strain.